NEXT FRIEND. One who, without being regUlarly appointed guardian, acts for the benefit of an infant, married woman, or oth er person not sui juris.
Where a person of unsound mind, not found so by inquisition, conveys his land by deed to another, the proper .mode of proceeding in equity to have sun' deed qancelled, annulled, and made void is not by information exhibited by the attorney general on the relation of others, but by a 'bill in the name of the incompetent person by a responsible next friend; Penington v. Thompson, .5 Del. Ch. 328, where the practice in such cases was elaborately discussed, both' in argument and by Saulsbury, Ch., who per mitted an information iu the name of the at torney-general' to be amended into a bill by next friend, and whose decision was affirm ed on appeal, where the only question was the propriety of the amendment.
It haS been held in other states that such suit may be brought by next friend on behalf of a person not adjudged insane and having no guardian appointed ; Holzheiser v. R. Co., 11 Tex. Civ. App. 677, 33 S. W. 887 ; Gillespie v. Hauenstein,. 72 Miss. 838, 17 South. 602; but' in Ohio it was held that such action must be by guardian, not next friend; Row v. Row, 53 Ohio St. 249, 41 N. E. 239 ; and in Iowa that it could not be done independ ently of statute; Tiffany v. Worthington, 96 Ia. 560, 65 N. W. 817. In such cases the court may supersede a next friend by a guardian ad litem, and in its discretion stay proceedings instituted by the former ; King v. Asylum, 64 Fed. 331, 12 C. C. A. 145.
See PROCHEIN Where an infant is so young as to be in capable of making a selection of a person to represent him, the court will permit any person to institute suit in his behalf, exer cising, however, discretion to prevent any abuse of that right; Kingsbury v. Buckner, 134 U. S. 650, 10 Sup. Ct. 638, 33 L. Ed. 1047.
A next friend may select one of several tribunals in which the infant's case shall be tried and may elect to accept the jurisdiction of the federal court to which the case may be removed ; In re Moore, 209 II. S, 490, 28 Sup. Ct. 585, 706, 52 L. Ed. 904, 1,4 Ann. Cas. 1164.
The weight of authority is against the right of the next friend to receive payment of and satisfy a judgment recovered on be half of an infant; Wood v. Claiborne, 82 Ark. 514, 102 S. W. 219, 11 L. R. A. (N. S.) 913, 118 Am.. St. Rep. 89 ; Galveston Oil Co. v. Thompson, 76 Tex. 235, 13 S. W. 60; Col lins v. Gillespy, 148 Ala. 558, 41 South. 930, 121 St. Rep. 81; Tripp v- Gifford, 155 Mass. 108, 29 N. E. 208, 31 Am. St. Rep. 530 (dictum). A person of unsound mind who has not been adjudged insane, and for whom no conservator has been appointed, may bring a suit by next friend ; Isle v. Cranby, 199 Ill. 39, 64 N. E. 1065, 64 L. R. A. 513.
In a suit on behalf of an infant, by his next friend, the infant must be a plaintiff; Morgan v. Potter, 157 U. S. 195, 15 Sup. Ct. 590, 39 L. Ed..670.